


Reciprocity (Cerebral Exchange remix)

by Akasanata



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Erik Logic Is The Best Logic, Gen, although this time he refrains from acting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-14
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 05:53:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15285096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akasanata/pseuds/Akasanata
Summary: Using Cerebro after Apocalypse amplified Charles' powers results in Erik and Charles interchanging powers.





	Reciprocity (Cerebral Exchange remix)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Cerebral Exchange](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8733742) by [princess_fluffle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princess_fluffle/pseuds/princess_fluffle). 
  * In response to a prompt by [princess_fluffle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/princess_fluffle/pseuds/princess_fluffle) in the [xmen_remix_madness2018](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/xmen_remix_madness2018) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> Safe work, if any (no limit):
> 
> *No safe works, have at it 
> 
> Previous remixes, if any:  
> *The previous remixes I’ve done are SOUL MARKS and my yet to be revealed new one
> 
> I am okay with my X-Men comics/original movie trilogy/cartoon works being remixed:  
> *yes
> 
> I am okay with my collaborations being remixed:  
> N/a
> 
> I am okay with being remixed in a different medium (fic for art or art for fic):  
> *yes
> 
> I am okay with my past remixes being remixed:  
> *yes 
> 
> I am okay with certain WIPs being remixed:  
> *n/a

Charles signaled Hank to turn on the machine once he had the helmet put firmly on his head. As soon as Hank did, he felt a surge in power run through his body and his mind expand with a speed he was not prepared to. It felt amazing, but soon it was too much. Cerebro had never felt like this before. Could it be the effect of what Apocalypse had done to his powers? He didn’t realize he was screaming until he felt a couple of arms shaking him. It was Erik. He heard in the distance someone saying, “Erik, wait!” and then, nothing.

When Erik opened his eyes, he realized he was crushing Charles with his body, the wheelchair turned a few steps away. Erik moved, his limbs heavy and uncooperative. He didn’t have the strength to stand up.

As soon as Erik had removed the helmet from Charles’ head, he had felt as if he was being electrocuted and promptly passed out. From the looks of it the same had happened to Charles. Luckily, he was already opening his eyes.

“Charles! Are you okay?”

“What happened?” he asked, attempting and failing to sit down.

In the meanwhile, Hank and Raven had reached their sides. Hank was using a little flashlight to see into Erik’s eyes. Erik, annoyed, waved him away.

“Charles, are you alright?” was asking Raven.

“Yes, yes. What happened?” he asked again.

“I think the power was more than what you could handle, and when Erik removed the helmet, you tried to subconsciously protect yourself, as you were still connected to it. You both seem to be okay, though. Are you feeling anything strange?”

Charles had been frowning all the time. He then looked at Raven with a panicky look in his eyes.

“I can’t…” he swallowed, “I can’t feel my powers!”

Erik, panicking as well, tried to reach for his powers, and that’s when it hit him. Thousands of voices, all the same time, clamoring for his attention. Some in agony, some exhilarated, most just mundane things. Distantly, he heard someone calling his name, and loud voices that seemed like Hank’s and Raven’s full of panic arose inside his head. And then he heard a terrible screeching and Cerebro came down on top of them.

However, the voices were now just even louder. Fear. There was so much fear and hate. He began chasing down the hate and realized it belonged to people of the town, and it was hate towards the _other_. Women, mutants, foreigners, anyone different. An irrational fear towards change.

Suddenly, he heard a voice, clearer than anything else, like a ray of sun amidst the storm of everyone’s thoughts.

“Erik. Erik, you need to come back. Come back to us. Come back to me.”

Erik knew that voice. It was undoubtedly Charles’. As soon as he realized that, he remembered he had a body, and that he didn’t know where exactly he was. He tried following the voice, and soon found himself opening his eyes, to the worried eyes of Raven, Hank and Charles, pieces of Cerebro all around them.

“The voices,” he said, clutching his head, “they won’t go away.”

“I know,” said Charles, “and they never will, but you can make them dimmer. You need to concentrate on creating shields. Imagine a safe place, and turn it into a fortress.”

A safe place? Erik didn’t have such thing. He instead imagined his sense of metal, and created a solid wall of it around his mind. The voices didn’t go away, but at least he could ignore them for now.

When he finally focused on what was going on, he noticed that Charles had metal stuck all around his body. Erik could put two and two together and deduce what was going on. He couldn’t help it. He laughed and laughed until there were tears in his eyes. Maybe it was the shock. He didn’t know. There were so many emotions inside him that didn’t belong that he was finding it difficult to recognize what was him and what wasn’t.

“You need to be firm. To actually want the metal to go where you tell it.”

Charles furrowed his brow, and after a few seconds, all the metal fell down with a clank.

“So, how do we go back?” Erik asked.

“Maybe if we try the same, but in reverse?” said Hank.

“It would be dangerous to connect Erik to Cerebro. His powers are too unstable.” protested Charles.

“Then you need to train me. Once I’m capable of handling Cerebro we do the same, and hopefully we’ll recover our own powers.”

Charles furrowed his brow again. He was doing that too much lately.

“All right.”

For a second, Erik was tempted to go inside Charles and see what he was thinking. And then it hit him: and why not? He could do it. He was in the right. After all, in this moments, these were his powers, and anyway, it wasn’t as if someone could stop him. In fact, he could see what everyone was thinking. He could command them, he could tell them to stop killing mutants. No, erase that, he could simply kill them. He had the power, he could feel it inside him. Maybe this switch wasn’t that bad idea. He would learn to control his new powers, and before switching back, he would have the power to do as he pleased with the world.

He looked at Charles, trying to hide the triumph he could feel inside him, but then he wavered. Charles didn’t deserve that. How many times he must have wanted to change Erik’s mind and refrained? Yet he hadn’t done it. Erik would honor that. He wouldn’t use Charles’ powers for his own gain.

Sighing, he said, “Right. Let’s begin then.”


End file.
